Colours Other Than Gold
by madaboutalice123
Summary: Selfridges isn't just for shopping. Non-competition side of the 2012 Olympics. AU due to the team: Kaylie, Kelly, Lauren, Payson.
1. Chapter 1

Sasha watched as his four athletes as they walked into the enormous dining hall; they moved as though linked by invisible cord, never too far away from each other, constantly checking they were together, always making sure each other were ok. He marvelled at how close they had become since the World Championships the previous year, they had moved beyond a team and were more than friends, closer than sisters – even if they did still bicker like siblings!

The coach was on his second cup of coffee, even though it was only 8am, and third newspaper of the day. A heavy sleeper when he was the competitor, Sasha was the total opposite when he was a coach at a meet; restless, nervous on behalf of his athletes and unable to sleep. This, he mused, would be the most nerve wracking, sleepless of all competitions…it was the Olympics for Godsake!

The girls moved out of his line of sight, towards the buffet-style layout of breakfast. Various stations offered a huge variety of foods, catering for all nations. Without watching them, Sasha knew what each girl would have on her plate or bowl. They had only been in London for 3 days but routines were already setting in.

Kelly ate the most simple food for breakfast, fruit with yoghurt and a cereal bar with a glass of water and another of orange juice. Lauren wasn't much different, but leaning towards granola with her fruit and yoghurt mix (although her worry of something getting stuck in her teeth and not being close to her toothbrush was making the amount of granola smaller every day!). Payson was the only coffee drinker in the group, usually having a mocha and always bringing Sasha a strong black coffee as well (he'd never asked, but the extra caffine was always appreciated). She ordered an omlette every day, sprinkled with vegetables and the merest hint of cheese but never ham or bacon, although the server offered it everyday. Having realised, the hard way, that breakfast really was the most important meal of the day, Kaylie steadily ate through a bowl of cereal and dried fruit (Lauren pointed out every moring that dried apricots looked a little like ears) and then a banana and honey toasted sandwich with orange juice.

"Sorry," Payson apologised for the slight spill of coffee as she placed a cup in front of Sasha, "A little full maybe?"

He smiled at her, "Not at all, thank you. You ok?"

She took a seat opposite him and nodded, "Fine thanks, although we did have a little electrical problem last night," she shook her head with a smile, "We had practically all the plug sockets full, and then Kelly wanted to use the hairdryer. Not the best idea! We definitely blew the fuses!"

"Hey!" the brunette athlete appeared and dropped into a chair, "You said it would be fine! And you were the one charging your phone, laptop, camera and channel surfing at the same time!"

The girls laughed together, more so when Lauren joined them and attempted to steal Kelly's slice of watermelon, "I can't believe you snatched the last piece when you knew I wanted it!"

"You said melon!" Kelly retorted, "Never said what type!"

While the bickering continued, Payson plucked the source of the argument from Kelly's bowl, sliced it in half and placed a piece of melon in each girls bowl, "Sorted!"

Sasha leant back with a smile, nursing his new coffee, and resumed his earlier musings about the slightly unexpected sibling-like bond between his athletes.

"Alright girls, listen up for a minute please," Sasha rapped on the table with his cereal spoon to get their attention, "Today is predominately a day off for you, but that doesn't mean you can go and paint the town red and exhaust yourselves, ok?"

"Can we paint stars and stripes instead?" Kelly grinned cheekily.

"Not helpful Kelly," Sasha told his eldest gymnast, "I have some official things to do," this was accompanied by a roll of his eyes, "So you will be left to your own devices. I don't mind if you want to go exploring London but you have to stay together and I don't want you out later than 4. You'll do some conditioning and maybe some very basic training early this evening. Got it?"

All the girls nodded, "Can we get a map or something around here?" Payson asked, "And I don't know, some transport info maybe?"

Sasha was unsurprised at the blonde gymnasts request, she was the one who would make sure they didn't get lost, were back on time, and not shattered. "Of course, it's all in leaflets in the main entrance to the village," Sasha said, "Keep your phones on, and if you need anything I'll have mine on, even if I'm in a meeting. I need to head off now girls, but remember, back here by 4, and we'll meet in the entrance hall to our block of flats at half past. Have a good day".

As their coach disappeared Kaylie turned to Payson, "What's your plan then?"

The blonde frowned, "What? What do you mean?"

"I've known you half our lives Pay, and while your are super-organised and whatever, I know when you've got some idea forming. Now spill," Kaylie ordered.

Payson sighed, "Not here, if we're all finished eating, lets go back upstairs".

"Ooo-ooh, secretive," teased Lauren as she pushed away from the table and stood up, "Come on then".

The athletes cleared their trays away as they left the dining hall and headed back to the apartments they were calling home while in London.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Thanks for reviewing/story alerting! My first story so any feedback is loved!

This isn't going to turn into a Payson/Sasha story I'm afraid...but I'm working on another that hopefully will be! (If you've any ideas you'd like to see let me know...open to suggestions!) It's mainly a friendship tale between the girls, although Sasha will get his corner too!

I started writing this before I saw S3, so I'm ignoring it totally!

Kelly lounged on her bed with Kaylie, while Lauren redid her hair in the mirror, "Well, out with it Pay".

Payson pulled the blind up on the window, showing a view of the Olympic Village and London beyond, "When we leave here, what are we going to have to take home?"

"Our gold medals?" Lauren's face simply read 'duh'.

"Ok, other than that," Payson tried again, "When we're 30 or something, sure we'll have memories, videos, photos, but we have those from every meet we've been to. God, we have those from every training session we've had".

Kaylie frowned, "So what do you suggest?"

Turning away from the window, Payson looked at her friends, "Maybe, something a bit more…permanent…?"

Kelly sat up so fast she tipped off the side of the bed. When she had turned herself upright she stared at Payson, "Are you saying what I think you're saying Keeler?"

"I'm worried our minds do work in similar ways KP," the blonde gymnast said slowly.

"Jeez," Kelly's eyes were wide, "If I let you do this, your mom is going to kill me! Heck, she'll kill all of us! There'll be no necks to hang our gold medals around!"

Lauren waved her hands around, "Excuse me? Hello! What on earth are you talking about?"

"Keeler wants a tattoo!" Kelly dropped dramatically back onto the bed.

"You've actually been planning this haven't you," said Lauren, who had finally moved away from the mirror and was sitting in the armchair by the television.

Payson shrugged, still standing by the window, "I've been thinking about it. I know what I want, and where to go for it".

"How?" Kelly asked, incredulous that her docile, stickler for the rules, anti-rebellion friend had thought this through and not mentioned a word.

"You know the British gymnast, the guy who's awesome on pommel, Louis Smith? He's got this huge one on his back; you can see it above the neck of his top. Anyway, we ended up in the same lift about 2 days ago, when you lot bundled in the one with Jarrod Spear…" Payson was interrupted by Lauren, "He's super cute though! Just 'cause you like blonde guys Pay!"

"Anyway," Payson carried on firmly, "I asked him about his tattoo, and where he would suggest would be a good place to have one done. We chatted about it and he told me about this shop, Selfridges I think, apparently it's yellow, which is where he got his. He text me some directions, and then said he'd show us around London if we wanted it, with some other guys on the British team I think".

Once again Lauren piped up, "Someone's got a crush on Payson! Or do you like him? Maybe I was wrong about you liking blondes. I guess he is kinda cute though".

Kelly threw a pillow at Lauren, "Shuttup Lo, I'm sure Pay won't mind if you want him," she easily caught the pillow on its' return flight and handed it to Kaylie, "So, where are we going Payson? I'm changing before we leave the village though".

"You're actually saying you're coming with me?" the blonde looked at Kelly with a questioning expression.

Her friend and roommate nodded, "Damn right I am, I'm not letting you go alone! And, I think it's a pretty good idea".

Payson grinned, "Thanks KP".

"Hey! Don't think you're doing this alone, you two," Lauren announced, "I'm in".

Kaylie slid off Kelly's bed, "And me," she reached out and squeezed Payson's arm, "I really like it as an idea Pay".

"I don't want you guys doing this because of me," Payson interrupted the sudden movement around the room, "I want this, I've been thinking about it for a while and I'm certain. It's like, until now the only marks on me are from the worst thing in my life, the scars from my back injury, and I want to change that. I want the best thing in my life, this, being here and hopefully doing something amazing, to take over. A mark to show it, how lucky I am to have got here".

"I think we've all been thinking something similar," Kaylie said gently, "Just, no one knew how to say something, or what to say. We've all had something to overcome, I guess some of our stepping-stones were a little wobbly, but together we're here. And you're right Pay, this is the most amazing time of our lives, we're here, living our dreams and we can mark this in whatever way we want. You got the idea, now we're just helping it come true, like a team does. And sure, we might be muscling in on the way, but hey, we share a dream, lets share everything!"

Payson wrapped her arms around her friend, sniffing a little into her shoulder before raising her head, "Thank you Kay, that was…"

Slightly watery themselves, Lauren and Kelly barrelled towards their embracing friends and threw themselves into hug as well, cutting off the rest of Payson's sentence.

"All for one, and one for all!" cried Lauren with a smile, earning cheesy laughs form her friends.

"Wow, you've read the Three Musketeers Lo?" Payson teased, "I thought you were a strictly magazine girl!"

Lauren tugged on Payson's ponytail; "I think I had to read it for a class. I thought there were more than three though".

Kelly laughed, "There's always the part of the horse!"


	3. Chapter 3

"What are you wearing?" Kelly pulled out another drawer and poked through the clothes within.

Payson appeared, shrugged, and then retreated back into the bathroom; it was the most answer Kelly was likely to get until her roommate had finished brushing her teeth.

The brunette athlete picked up a denim skirt and held it against herself before shaking her head and putting back in the drawer. She left the drawer half open in case she decided something in there was wearable after all, but moved to the wardrobe and poked through the half which held her clothes.

Eventually Payson came out of the bathroom, "What's going on KP? What are you looking for?"

"Something to wear," sighed the brunette who was standing practically inside the wardrobe.

Payson raised an eyebrow, although she was known for her lack of interest in fashion, preferring comfortable clothes to anything else (although Lauren was striving to change that, and very slowly it was working), Kelly was only slightly more bothered about what she was wearing.

"Why have you rejected the denim skirt?" Payson enquired, picking it up and looking at it.

Kelly turned away from the wardrobe, "Because I'm worried it might rub when I've had the tattoo done. And I'm sure that wouldn't be a good thing".

"Fair point," Payson nodded, "Well, maybe wear something that's soft. How about that grey skirt," she rummaged through the half open drawer before holding up a skirt made from similar material to sweatpants, "It's pretty soft, and it's a bit stretchy, so you could always pull it down, or roll it, a bit if it's too high on your lower back".

Shimmying out of the Team USA tracksuit bottoms she had worn to breakfast, Kelly pulled the skirt on and looked in the mirror with a nod. The skirt had some yellow lettering near the hem, so Kelly added a pale yellow t-shirt, "Thanks Pay, good idea with the skirt".

Payson smiled, "No worries, Lauren must be teaching me well! That top makes you look so brown! I wish I tanned more," she peered at her shoulders, hoping to see some tan lines, but her skin had barely changed colour since the beginning of the summer.

Even though the majority of their training was done inside, the gymnasts spent time outside running or stretching after practice if the evenings were still warm enough.

Kelly caught the sun easily, steadily turning browner every time she spent more than half an hour outside, "You could always fake it," she pointed out, "I'm going to have to do something about my tan lines before we go to the party after competition finishes, my dress is strapless and my training kit really hasn't been!"

Payson laughed, "At least bits of you have colour! I think I'd look weird with fake tan though, I'm hideously pale. And I have no clue what to wear to the party, lets not go there yet!"

"How do you think Lauren stays the same tanned colour all the time?" Kelly enquired as she rummaged in the bottom of the wardrobe for shoes, "She fake tans all the time Pay, I bet she's naturally the same colour as you. We'll find you some fake bake that will look fine".

The blonde shrugged, "We'll see. I don't think Lauren will consider anything I brought with me appropriate for the party anyway, so I'm sure I'll be taken shopping soon enough".

"Are you changing?" Kelly asked, collecting things to put in her handbag and propping her sunglasses on her head.

Payson nodded, "Yeah, I will. Give me a second. Did Kaylie say we would knock for them, or they would for us?"

Kelly filled a water bottle up and screwed the cap on before answering, "They will come here, which gives you at least another fifteen minutes. Should be here now but this is Lauren who's getting ready, so don't panic about time".

The slight digs that Kelly and Lauren exchanged on a frequent basis had lost their bitchiness and had dropped to friendly banter, something that Payson was extremely grateful for.

The blonde gymnast quickly swapped the Team USA emblazoned outfit all the athletes had worn to breakfast for a short, cut-off denim skirt (blame Lauren) and an over-sized blue and white striped t-shirt.

Payson and Kelly were ready and had been perched on the ends of their beds channel surfing for twenty minutes before Kaylie knocked on their door.

"Sorry!" the tiny brunette said cheerfully, "Lo's doing something to her hair, she said she'd meet us in the hallway".

Payson rolled her eyes, "Only Lauren. Come on KP".

The three girls loitered in the hallway for another ten minutes before Lauren deemed her hair acceptable to be seen by the rest of London and joined them.

"We're only going into town Lo," Kelly pointed out, "This isn't a fashion parade".

The blonde flicked her hair as they started to walk towards the stairs, "Whatever KP. It's a chance to get out of spandex and tracksuits for a day. Why shouldn't I wear what I like? Sasha can't have a go at me, it's not like it's hideous or slutty".

Lauren had donned a pair of micro denim shorts and a white top with what Kelly deemed flounces and frills all over the front.

"Come on," Kaylie stopped after going down a few steps, "I'm sure we can find time to do clothes later. Where are we going Pay?"

Payson pulled her phone from her bag and flicked through her messages, "Louis said Selfridges, and here are the directions," she handed her phone to Kaylie, "It seems like the centre of London, so I guess it can't be that hard to get to".

Kaylie methodically picked up one of each map, bus and train timetable and leaflet about sightseeing, "Think I've covered all bases".

"Jeez, I thought Keeler was the organised one," Kelly quipped as she took the stack of papers from Kaylie and flicked through them, "Which one do we need now?"

As the two brunettes searched for Selfridges on a map and studied the transport timetables, Payson and Lauren scoured the shop for a picture of the Olympic rings.

"It just needs to be plain," groaned Payson as she found yet another postcard with the 2012 logo on.

Three aisles to her left, Lauren called, "Hey, what about this? I know it isn't on paper…"

Payson found Lauren holding a t-shirt, "It is just the rings and the London," she offered, "It's all I've found so far".

"I think that might be it," Payson agreed, "Everything I've found has something else on it too. I figure the more plain the picture is the easier it will be".

Lauren nodded, "Ok, t-shirt it is. I kinda wanted one anyway, so I'll buy it," she measured it against herself, "Maybe the next size down?"

"I think so," Payson nodded, "There's a few things I wouldn't mind having another look at here, we can come back another day with the others though".

They made their way to the front of the shop and Lauren grinned as she noticed a poster above the checkout desks, "Look Pay".

Following her friend's line of sight Payson huffed a laugh, looking down on them was a poster of the USA women's gymnastics team, "That's actually a bit creepy".

"Are we going to get a chance to actually go sightseeing?" asked Kaylie as she watched London slide slowly past through the bus window.

The girls had decided that they would see more things going by bus, rather than taking the British version of the Subway.

Payson looked at her phone for the time, "I guess so. It's not like we've got the training time we have at home and Sasha knows we'll go mad if he tries to keep us in the village all the time. We'll have time between finishing competing and going home anyway. We might have a bit of time today. I guess it depends on how long this takes".

Satisfied, Kaylie nodded and pressed her forehead against the glass, partly to cool down and partly to watch the city go by. Payson tugged one of the city guides Kaylie had picked up from her handbag and flicked through it, noting what area they would be in getting their tattoos done (she mentally cringed a little bit at how that sounded) and what else was nearby that they could see before the had to head back to the village.

In the seat behind Payson and Kaylie, Lauren and Kelly were discussing the merits of different tattoo placements.

"But that's like, a tramp stamp!" Lauren protested against Kelly having her tattoo on her lower back.

The brunette gymnast arched an eyebrow at her friend (no, she couldn't quite believe she was calling Lauren that either. But, somehow, somewhere along the road to the Olympics, that was what they had become) and said, "Lo, it's about the most exclusive tattoo anyone can have, and I'm hardly a trampy kind of girl".

Lauren considered this for a moment before nodding, "You're right. Above or below where you pants sit?"

Kelly shrugged, "I haven't decided yet. Maybe half and half. I'm not sure. What about you anyway? You haven't even said yet!"

"Here, I think," Lauren pointed just above the waistband of her (tiny) shorts, "On the right. Basically on my hip".

"Jeez Lo, that's practically on bone," Kelly winced, "Surely that's gonna hurt?"

The blonde shrugged, "I've not really thought about it. Haven't really had time," she pulled out her phone and brought Google to life; her nimble fingers told the Blackberry to search 'tattoo places hip bone'.


	4. Chapter 4

AN - I'm super sorry i've not paid any attention to this for rather a long time. My only excuse is life got rather mad. I'm sorry. I should be able to update more regularly now, as long as i can keep writing ahead of uploading!

There is a touch of artistic/authors license in this story, a little to do with tattoos and a little to do with the layout of Selfridges (I've just moved things around inside the shop - no biggie!).

Re tattoos and timing - athletes were arriving in London pre-Olympics by about 2 weeks, and the womens gymnastsics started on day 2. I'm giving the girls 2 weeks tattoo healing time before they start competing, which is the same amount of time a friend of mine was told before starting to train again. This might not be quite right, but this is only a story, please suspend belief if you need to! As I'm not tattooed myself, I have taken any instructions etc from the website of a tattoo shop in my city.

Happy reading - hope you like it!

"Look, it's just like, a block down there," Kaylie pointed towards a building that showed yellow signs glinting in the sun.

The four gymnasts were stood at a crossroads in the middle of London, looking down each offshoot road for Selfridges, the shop Louis Smith had directed Payson to.

Payson checked the directions on her phone and the name of the road Kaylie was pointing down and nodded, "Yeah, that's right. Let's go".

Close together, as they had been at breakfast, and often were anyway, the girls strode purposefully towards the shop.

"Apparently it's on the ground floor," Payson said as they arrived outside the department store, "But I don't know if that's the one you walk in on, or the one below that".

Lauren, self-proclaimed queen of shopping, marched forwards and through the doors, "Come on! There'll be a store guide somewhere. Now we're here I'm not hesitating".

Payson, Kelly and Kaylie trailed after their blond team mate and crowded around the store guide at the bottom of the escalators.

"Ahha!" Lauren pointed, "There, it's lower ground floor, it must be in the basement. The map makes it look like it's right at the back. Let's go!"

Once again she took the lead and marched into the fray that was the shop floor. The four girls weaved their way through the make-up department, Payson sneezing from all the perfume scents in the air, and took the escalators down just next to a very glass and silver furnished hair salon.

"Straight to the back from here?" Kaylie asked, looking around at the different directions they could take.

Lauren nodded, "Yeah, past electronics I think".

The basement floor was sparsely populated with shoppers, but all the televisions on display were showing news channels and programmes about the run-up to the Games.

"I wonder if we'll see ourselves," Kelly mused, pausing in front of a 42 inch TV screen that was too big for anything other than the Cruz mansion which was showing athletes arriving at London airports or milling around the Olympic Village.

"If you stay there for half an hour, maybe," Payson said, "I thought you said you'd recorded every moment of the Games back home anyway".

The brunette shrugged, "Yeah, so? But it would be cool if we were stood here, looking at ourselves going for a walk yesterday".

Payson laughed, "We can keep the TV in our room on whenever we're in there later".

They moved on and Kaylie spotted a sign, "Look, I think it's round that corner. It looks pretty dark though".

The gymnasts stopped in front of a counter where various pieces of metal you could have pierced into a host of body parts were displayed and exchanged glances.

Kaylie was the first to speak, "Uh, guys….this looks a little bit, heavy?"

Even Lauren looked slightly intimidated, and was about to speak when a man with colourfully tattooed arms appeared from a room behind the counter.

"Hey girls! You alright there?"

Another glance was shot between the four girls and then Kelly spoke, "We're in the right place for a tattoo, yeah?"

The man nodded, "You've come to the right place. I'm Jon, and you are…" he waited for her name.

"Kelly," she supplied, before pointing to the others, "Kaylie, Lauren and Payson".

Having talked their ideas through with the tattoo artist, Jon, the girls had perfected their design, the same one for each girl, just with different placement, and were ready to go.

"So," Jon indicated the hospital-like bed in the tattoo room, "Who's up first?"

It dawned on the gymnast's that this was something they hadn't decided upon.

Lauren emphatically shook her head, "Not me. I'm still trying to work out if I want it on the left or right".

"I'd rather not," Kaylie sounded slightly nervous, her voice small and hands knotted together.

Lauren pressed their shoulders together, "You don't have to Kay. Just keep thinking how amazing it will be when it's done".

It was Kelly who made the choice, "I nominate Payson. It was her idea".

The blonde groaned, "I knew this would come back to me," she looked at her friends who unflinchingly stared back, "Fine! I'll go!"

She stood up and wriggled out of her t-shirt before climbing onto the bed, "But you'd better have some good talk to distract me".

Jon picked up the transfer he had made of the tattoo and positioned it on her back, "I'll draw it first, so you can check the placement and then, if you think it's right, we'll get going. That ok?"

Payson nodded, "Sure".


End file.
